Trump's time in the White House enters the final countdown, and in 28 days, at noon on January 20, Biden will be sworn in. However, from now on, Trump can still "release big moves" at any time in these last 28 days.
Today Trump vetoed the FY21 Defense Budget Bill passed by both houses of Congress at the White House, and then flew away to Mar-a-Lago with his wife, Melania.
In the past week, Trump has held several "secret meetings" at the White House, and it seems that new plans are brewing. That includes inviting Republicans from Pennsylvania to the White House today for lunch, convening Republicans on Monday to discuss how to raise objections in a joint congressional session on Jan. 6, and meeting with Former National Security Adviser Flynn, who supported his use of martial law, and Flynn's lawyer, Sydney Powell.
<H1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > "crazy plan" for Trump supporters</h1>
On December 18, Trump held a meeting in the Oval Office, which included lawyer Sidney Powell, who has been cheering for Trump, and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, which was originally just a simple "brainstorming", but as the meeting progressed, the atmosphere became more and more intense, quarrels broke out, and some of Trump's staff were extremely dissatisfied with Powell and Flynn's proposal to overturn the election.
Flynn, who received Trump's amnesty last month, returned by offering Trump a "bold idea": recommending that Trump use martial law, that is, that the president directly overturn the election results by using the military. In Flynn's view, this practice is not "unprecedented", having been used 64 times in history.
Martial law is the direct exercise of military control over civilian functions in an emergency. After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, martial law was imposed in Hawaii, but the U.S. federal government has never imposed martial law since. Legal experts say the 64 times Flynn pointed out were essentially martial law orders used before and during the U.S. Civil War. Later, the Supreme Court has severely limited the president's right to declare martial law in several cases.
The U.S. military also made a clear response. U.S. Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy and Army Chief of Staff James McConnell issued a joint statement saying the military had no reason to interfere in the outcome of the presidential election. The Daily Mail notes that martial law applies to war, disaster and riot, but no president in the United States has ever used martial law to change the outcome of the election and re-elect.
Sidney Powell, a former member of Trump's legal team, has previously insisted that the election results were fraudulent and that the voting machines in many Democratic-controlled areas were manipulated by foreign powers, such as the remnants of Venezuela's late leader Chávez... Unable to produce evidence, the Fox Station host couldn't stand it and quarreled with Powell on the show. Powell's claim made Giuliani feel too crazy, so he asked her out of the legal team.
Giuliani and Powell
If you don't forget it, there will be an echo. After Powell was invited out of Trump's legal team, he still persistently tried to overturn the election results, and Trump was impressed by her insistence and let her "enter the palace twice", and now she is a special adviser to the White House. But within the White House, including chief of staff Mark Meadows and adviser Pat Cipollone, there has been strong opposition to Mr. Trump's appointment.
Sidney Powell appeared at the White House
At the meeting, Trump was said to have asked about the possibility of using the military to overturn the election, which made the think tanks around him panic that the plans were too crazy. According to Axios, even Trump's loyal followers have directly and publicly opposed Flynn and Powell's views, arguing that these ideas have gotten completely out of control...
However, after the meeting was exposed by the media, Trump immediately denied on Twitter that he would use martial law.
<H1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Monday's "conspiracy" in the West Wing of the White House</h1>
If the ideas are crazy, this Monday's meeting is back to normal, but the theme is still to overturn the election. Trump reconvened The Republicans of the House and Vice President Pence on the West Wing of the White House, chaired by Pence, asked Republicans in the House and the Senate to question the results of the election when a joint session of Congress certified the votes of the Electoral College on January 6.
Republican big man John Tune
But John Thune, the second-in-command of the Senate Republican Party, is deeply concerned about Mr. Trump's approach: "I think it makes no sense to do it, and when you already know the final result, you still let everyone accompany you." ”
Previously, Republican leader McConnell has publicly acknowledged Biden's victory and asked party members not to follow Trump to overturn the election results. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, an ally of Mr. Trump, also expressed doubts about challenging the election results: "In my view, doing so would only bring greater harm than benefit." ”
Matt Goetz plays with his phone in front of the West Wing of the White House
But several Republican lawmakers decided to fight Mr. Trump to the end, including Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. Republican lawmakers who attended the meeting that day also included Matt Gaetz, Jody Hice, Jim Jordan and Mo Brooks.
Brooks told politicians' websites that they plan to challenge the results of the six states in a joint congressional session, and that the planned discussions will last about 18 hours, meaning the process will continue until Jan. 7. Brooks said the meeting focused on "how serious the fraud in the election was" in November.
Brooks stood up for Trump
Brooks said all lawmakers were divided into different groups that day to meet with Trump and his lawyer, Giuliani, who met Powell at the scene but did not communicate with her.
The House is currently controlled by Democrats, so the end result is unlikely to change. As a result, such efforts are doomed to failure.
<H1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Trump amnesty</h1>
Trump is becoming increasingly aware of the countdown to his time in the White House, and before Christmas arrives, he begins a barrage of amnesties. The latest round includes Charles Kushner, the father of first son-in-law Kushner, as well as former campaign chairman Manafort, who refused to work with prosecutors in the Russia investigation, and Longtime Trump's friend Roger Stone.
In fact, compared with his predecessors, the number of people trump announcing sentence reductions and amnesties is not much at all, and even the one who seems to be the least at present. The chart below compares the number of Trump amnesty grants to their predecessors before December.
But Jack Goldsmith, a professor at Harvard Law School, noted that of the 65 people trump granted amnesty and commuted before Wednesday, 60 had personal ties or political interests to Trump. While past U.S. presidents have also pardoned a wave of people before leaving office, they are usually not directly related to the president personally.
Partial amnesty list
Kushner's father, Charles Kushner, was pardoned, the biggest wish of Trump's pro-son-in-law. In 2005, Charles was sentenced to two years in prison for tax evasion and illegal political donations. During the hearing, Charles, in order to prevent his brother-in-law from appearing in court to testify against him, arranged for a prostitute to meet with his brother-in-law, secretly recorded it, and then handed the video to his sister to threaten his sister and brother-in-law. Who wanted the East Window incident, Chris Christie, who was the federal prosecutor for New Jersey at the time, said Charles's behavior was "despicable!" Heinous! ”。
Kushner's family of three
And today Trump also pardoned the core figures of the Russia investigation: Manafort and Roger Stone, no doubt giving Miller a resounding slap to the special prosecutor for the Russia incident.
Originally, according to Miller's indictment, Manafort faced five tax fraud charges, two bank fraud charges, etc., and needed to go to jail for seven and a half years; roger Stone was put in jail for 40 months for betrayal on seven counts, including obstruction of justice, tampering with testimony, and misrepresentation to Congress. But a week before Roger Stone went to jail, Trump signed the Acquittal Order, and he was released from jail.
Roger Stone appeared at Mar-a-Lago last weekend
Trump also pardoned 15 people in the last round, also involving two "loyalists" involved in the "Russiagate": Trump campaign advisers George Papadopoulos and Alex Van Der Zwaan.
Trump campaign manager Papadopoulos
In addition, three former Republican lawmakers were pardoned: former California Rep. Duncan Hunter, Rep. Chris Collins of New York, and Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas.
It is not difficult to see that the main purpose of Trump's amnesty is to reward his loyal followers while retaliating against political opponents. Some analysts say that Trump's amnesty is only a small test, the ultimate purpose is to lay the foundation for the next broader pardon, he will step by step to test the reaction of the two parties and the media, and then he will pardon personal lawyer Giuliani, his family, and himself.
Trump arrived in Florida today, and the White House announced Trump's itinerary for tomorrow early today. After the election, Trump's daily schedule was written "no public activities", but today the White House unusually wrote on the calendar: As the holiday season approaches, Trump will continue to work tirelessly for the American people, and his schedule includes many meetings and phone calls.
This arrangement is believed to be true, after all, there are only 28 days left before Biden takes office, and Trump needs to race against the clock to protect his political interests and status for the past four years, and more importantly, the next four years.